18 THE FATHER OF RIVERS 



Hankow came in sight. Its many factory chimneys 

 vomit wreaths of smoke across the muddy river 

 and add nothing to the beauty of an unattractive 

 spot. It was here, or rather at Wuchang-fu across 

 the river, that the revolution broke out a few 

 weeks later. The native city which lies just to the 

 west of the settlement is, or rather was, for it was 

 almost entirely destroyed, one of the most un- 

 pleasant spots imaginable. Sir Frederick Treves 

 has called Canton a nightmare city. The descrip- 

 tion applied equally well to Hankow, for it was 

 a place to see and forget. The first thing that 

 impresses one on entering a native city of this kind 

 in China is the overpowering excess of humanity. 

 The coast towns and river ports are the dirtiest. 

 Inland they do not strike with such repugnance, 

 or perhaps one becomes hardened. 



That strange person, the man in the street, does 

 not, if his surroundings are set in China, attract 

 the observer. He is, in fact, singularly unpre- 

 possessing. His shaven head gives him an air of 

 artificiality which somehow unconsciously pre- 

 judices the foreigner ; the bound feet and tottering 

 gait of the women increase the feeling which, at 

 the close of one's first walk through a native town, 

 has increased to positive aversion. 



Hankow was, I think, dirtier and more repellent 

 than either Shanghai or Canton, and its inhabitants 

 a most unhealthy-looking lot, of whom a large 

 percentage had suffered from smallpox. The 

 usual crowd collected whenever a camera appeared, 

 and amid the unimaginable smells one which was 

 recognisable had almost the greeting of an old 

 friend. 



